Evolution of the Penis

Subtitle: Which Came First, the Penis or the Sperm, Inspired by the Paris Hilton For President Story

Mmmhollywould will tell you its the penis.

You have probably wondered when in the history of life streching back more than a billion years ago was the penis invented.

Well, the fossil record shows a penis on a 400 million year old (MYO) daddy long legs and another shows a large stout organ on an Ostracod fossil. 

We also know from anatomy that organisms like fish and worms have penises and worms also have vaginas on the same organism but which came first, no pun intended. Worms predate fish but was there genetic exchange before worms?

You bet, bacteria undergo exchange of genetic material in some cases.

I would have to say that bacteria or their antecedents were probably the first critters to stick it to each other by a vehicle which can be called a penis and bacteria are over a billion years old. 

Having said that, sperm didn't evolve til considerably later. Separate lines of germ cells required the evolution of metazoa or multicellular animals and it is there that sperm first appears. 

You can find it in the oceans in sponges which predate worms. Sponges have been found in the Devonian to upper Carboniferous but must have had antecedents much earlier.

Sea squirts are more highly evolved and on the chordate line because they have a larva with a primitive cartilege notocord and a dorsal spinal chord and they appear in the fossil record 500 to 600 mya and they are hermaphrodites with male and female organs on the same individuals and they possess both sperm and eggs but no penis.

http://ebiomedia.com/prod/BOsponges.html

The simple answer then is that rudimentary penises came first and sperm came later, but true penises may have already evolved in Protozoa a very long time ago.

In conclusion 

Transvestites are not a new invention and the penis has been around a very long time and it is not likely to go away soon even though some of you might wish it. Amongst the chordates it probably appeared first in the fish in Chondrichthyes though these may be a regression of Osteichthyes which are at least 400 mybp.

Jormawankenobe

© 2008 J. Jyrkkanen